The City Reporters
Buhari at Chatham House on Thursday February 26, 2015/CREDIT: on Twitter.
After delivering a speech at Chatham House, Thursday, Muhammadu Buhari was asked about his view on Sharia law. He ignored the question and was about returning to his seat when the moderator reminded him he could not do so without responding to the question.
Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been accused by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of plotting to turn Nigeria into a Sharia state should he win the country’s highest political office.
The allegation raised apprehensions among Nigerians after a 2001 pro-Sharia statement issued by the former head of state was revisited.
During the 2001 National Convention of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN) held at the Arewa House, Kaduna, Buhari was quoted to have made the following comments:
“This is the sacrifice the Moslems will have to make and persuade their fellow countrymen who are non-Moslems to accept.
“I will continue to show openly and inside me, the total commitment to Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria, God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country.”
While the APC said Buhari was quoted out of context, the retired general has not denied making the comments.
After Buhari’s speech at Chatham House in London on Thursday, members of the audience asked series of questions the last of which bordered on Buhari’s stance on perpetuating Sharia law.
The APC presidential flag bearer initially responded to all the questions except the last. He was about returning to his seat when the moderator of the event reminded him he had not answered the Sharia related query.
“Sharia is limited to inheritance, marriage etc, but the constitution is superior,” Buhari then managed to say.
“If anyone wants to change sharia they have to change the constitution,” he said.
Buhari, however, fell short of clarifying whether or not he would initiate a constitutional overhaul that could make Sharia law the norm across Nigeria.
Although Buhari’s body language to Sharia law may further fuel fears the APC has an Islamic agenda, it is the PDP that has made religion a major talking point in the buildup to the 2015 general elections.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s running mate, VP Namadi Sambo, has been telling northern Muslims to reject Buhari whom he claims is not a true Muslim.
“If he was a true Muslim, he wouldn’t have chosen a pastor of 5,000 churches (Yemi Oshinbajo) as running mate,” Sambo, in Hausa language, told a crowd of PDP supporters in Niger State.
“We are the true Islamic party,” Sambo told the crowd as he reeled out the names of top PDP officials whom he said are Muslims.
In the Christian dominated southern part of the country, the PDP is fueling fears Buhari would Islamise the country if he is elected president.
